Basketball
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks

SEMO NCAA Tournament Appearances: Redhawks Finally Back in the Dance

min read
SEMO (Southeast Missouri) won the 2023 OVC Basketball Tournament and will play in the NCAA Tournament.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Chase Kiddy @chaseakiddy Mar 05, 2023, 11:47 AM
  • SEMO is Southeast Missouri State University.
  • SEMO won the OVC basketball tournament on Saturday night.
  • SEMO has had only one Division I NCAA Tournament appearance before this.

It’s not truly time for March Madness until someone punches a ticket to the dance.

Fortunately, Saturday night officially kicked off this year’s bracket season. The first of 68 teams clinched its berth in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, which means it’s officially time for college basketball odds and March Madness mayhem.

What College is SEMO?

Southeast Missouri State University is a mid-sized public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It supports a Division I athletics program that belongs to the Ohio Valley conference. 

SEMO NCAA Tournament Appearances

SEMO moved up to the Division I level in 1991. Since then, the Redhawks have made just one NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball. 

That was the 2000 NCAA Tournament, where No. 13 seed SEMO lost a tight one to No. 4 LSU, 64-61.

SEMO was a tournament regular at the Division II level, qualifying 13 times from 1961-90. They reached the Division II national championship game three different times, in 1961, 1986 and 1989.

OVC Basketball Tournament

SEMO men’s basketball is back in the news in March 2023 because of its second-ever Division I NCAA Tournament berth. 

On Saturday night, SEMO’s overtime win over Tennessee Tech in the championship game of the OVC basketball tournament officially made it the first team to punch its ticket for the 2023 edition of March Madness.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is projecting SEMO as a No. 16 seed that will be playing in the First Four in Dayton.

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About the Author

Chase Kiddy

Read More @chaseakiddy

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.